Investigation underway into how massive ship got stuck in the Suez Canal

The Suez Canal reopened on Monday evening after crews, with the help of tides, were able to free the Ever Given, a massive container ship that was stuck in the canal for almost a week.

On March 23, amid a sandstorm, the Ever Given crashed into the canal's bank. With the ship stuck, hundreds of other vessels were unable to go through the canal, costing companies billions of

dollars a day. Ships go through the Suez Canal because it offers the shortest shipping route between Asia and Europe, and dozens of vessels decided to take the alternate route around the

Cape of Good Hope, adding 3,100 miles to their journeys.

The high tide early on Monday helped salvage teams dislodge the Ever Given's bow, and the ship was successfully refloated by the evening. Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal

Authority, said ships are going through the canal again and the 224,000-ton Ever Given is being inspected for damage.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book

of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.